On a recent trip into Dallas to see Patti LuPone, Sarah Smith and I had dinner at Ocean Prime, one of the city's most popular seafood restaurants.

From the moment we stepped out of the car until we left an hour and a half later, the experience was first class.

A red carpet leads you to the front door. A beautiful reception area, complete with an elegant waterfall greets you, along with some very nice hostesses who ask questions like, "How was your drive into the city?" and "This is your first visit, right?" (I made reservations through a website called Open Table. Evidently, the girls had read my comments.)

The interior of the place is cool and inviting and is somewhat like being in the dining room of a luxury liner.

Although Ocean Prime prides itself in offering aged beef, we stuck to seafood.

To begin our experience, we split an order of Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes in Sweet Corn Cream. Luis, our excellent server, was quick to recommend them, saying the company had recently revised the recipe to include more sweet, lump crab meat and less bland filler.

The result was one of the best crab cakes I've had since I was in Maryland. For real.

For the main course, I had the Salt and Pepper Tuna, which was cooked to perfection. Sarah had Maine lobster tails with drawn butter. Also perfect.

Luis paired a bright, crisp, clean "stainless steel" white wine with Sarah's lobster. I'm really not into wine, but I'll order a glass of it on my next trip in.

Then, came dessert. Sarah chose the Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie, which is the lightest mousse I've ever tasted, covered by a lovely dome of chocolate ganache. I had the White Chocolate Key Lime Pie Tart, which featured a fabulous custard, but just a touch too much whipped cream.

Manager Walter Hatcher stopped by the tables and chatted with guests. He seemed genuinely pleased that we had chosen to visit Ocean Prime, making sure all our questions had been answered and all our dining needs had been met.

Prices range from $31 - $50. There is no "arts menu." They're open for lunch Monday - Friday from 11:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. and for dinner Monday - Thursday from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m., on Friday and Saturday from 4 p.m. until 11 p.m. and on Sundays from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m.

Ocean Prime is located at 2101 Cedar Springs. Their phone number is 214-965-0440.